This relates generally to electronic devices, and more particularly, to antennas for electronic devices.
Electronic devices such as portable computers and cellular telephones are often provided with wireless communications capabilities. For example, electronic devices may include cellular telephone circuitry and wireless local area network circuitry. Electronic devices may also be provided with circuitry for supporting near field communications (NFC).
It is often desirable to place a layer of ferrite material between a near field communications antenna and internal device components to reduce interference. This is typically done by laminating a layer of polymer ferrite film to a flexible printed circuit antenna using a layer of adhesive. Ferrite films are also available that use ceramic ferrites sandwiched between a carrier film and a protective film. The ceramic ferrites may be scored in a cross-hatch pattern to promote flexibility.
Using adhesive to attach a ferrite film to a flexible printed circuit antenna structure can add undesired thickness to an electronic device. Lamination techniques may also impose undesired process complexity during device fabrication.
It would therefore be desirable to be able to provide improved antenna structures with ferrite layers for electronic devices.